Impact of embedded Mn nanodots on resistive switching characteristics of Si-rich oxides as measured in Ni-electrode metal–insulator–metal diodes

We studied the formation of high-density Mn nanodots (NDs) by remote H2 plasma (H2-RP) treatment and investigated how the embedding of Mn NDs affects the resistive switching properties of Si-rich oxides (SiO x ) because it is expected that NDs will trigger the formation of the conductive filament path in SiO x . We fabricated Mn NDs with different ND areal densities by exposing an ultrathin Mn layer on the SiO x /Ni bottom electrode to H2-RP without external heating. After the deposition of SiO x as a resistive switching layer and the fabrication of Ni top electrodes, resistive switching behaviors of metal–insulator–metal (MIM) diodes were characterized from current–voltage (I–V) curves and compared with the results obtained from samples of SiO x without Mn NDs and with an ultrathin Mn layer instead. The embedding of Mn NDs in SiO x was found to be effective in increasing the ON/OFF ratio in resistance and reducing the variation in operation voltage.